If you’re new to the crypto and blockchain world like me, welcome. Like any other person in the year 2022, I have certaintly heard about NFTs through the eyes of pop-culture, such as ‘Kings of Leon’ selling their new album ‘When you see yourself’ as an NFT, or the founder of ‘Twitter’ Jack Dorsey, selling his first ever tweet as an NFT. However, I was completely wrong thinking bitcoin and NFT’s were the same thing and whether you like it or not, NFTs are here to shake up the investing world and the art world. Let me explain…
An NFT stands for ‘Non-Fungible Token’, meaning it is a unique, copyrighted token that is brought that represents digital rights to the asset. This can be artworks, GIFs, videos, collectables, virtual avatars, designer sneakers (Hi Nike!), and music.
So how does it differ from regular cryptocurrency?
NFTs are part of the ethereum blockchain, which is a type of cryptocurrency, that keeps track of who owns the file, and makes it impossible for ‘ownership’ to be stolen. However, that’s where the similarities end. Bitcoin is fungible, meaning it can be traded amonst owners, and they will still have bitcoin. However, when trading NFTs, you will end up with a completely different token, than what you ended up with.
While NFTs had been around 8 years before they exploded into the mainstream market in 2021, and have only evolved rapidly over the past year, completely changing the art world, and industries beyond it. Thus, evolving into the current phase of using the technology to sell digital art.
So, many of you may be thinking, “Why pay for an NFT, when you can just screenshot and download it for free?”
Well, you can. However, it’s the investment aspect of owning digital content which can be determined by the marketplace. While the marketplace is cluttered with the latest ponzi schemes and scams, there is a whole other world dedicated to legitmate artists creating content that you can support. The NFT world has allowed for artists to launch their work onto a global platform and allows them to deal with buyers directly, effectively, cutting out the middle-man that normally requires compensation. This allows the artist to monetize their products by allowing them to buy their content directly from the artists themselves, therefore contributing to supporting their craft and their livlihoods.
However, can NFTs really be considered a new art form, when digital art has existed for decades before NFTs?
From an artist’s perspective, it allows for you to advertise your art to a much wider community, while still maintaining the rights to the piece. Just like the Asian-American artist, Seneca, who is the lead designer of the ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’, the NFT phenonemon, that caught the eyes of big names, like Stephen Curry and Justin Beiber. Due to digital art being so freely available, artists have often been overlooked online. Therefore, NFTs help create scarcity, which legitimizes the art from creators
As a buyer, you’re able to financially support local artists that may not have a large platform in the real world, and not only do you have digital rights to that piece, you also have bragging rights.
Article written by Claudia Floros
Image Credit: 101blockchains.com